


Gil is Growing Up

by StripedSunhat



Series: Single Father Klaus [8]
Category: Girl Genius (Webcomic)
Genre: Family Issues, Gen, Gil isn't the only lonely one, Klaus backslides, Pre-Canon, So naturally no one will learn anything, There's an important life lesson there, Why Gil needs therapy, Why Klaus needs therapy, Why Sparks need therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-16 23:12:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16504622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StripedSunhat/pseuds/StripedSunhat
Summary: Children need their own space.Klaus has acknowledged this fact.Klaus has even addressed this fact.That does not mean however that he has accepted this fact.He hasn't.  He really, really hasn't.





	Gil is Growing Up

Klaus glanced around the lab. There was no way around it; it was crowded. Veering dangerously close to overcrowded. And ‘dangerously’ was really the only proper descriptor for an overcrowded lab.

Gilgamesh was getting older. He was branching out in his interests. He’d been spending an increasing amount of time in working on his own projects. Combined with the old, finished projects that were accumulating around the edges and the actually usable space was rapidly shrinking.

It was time to face facts. Gilgamesh needed his own lab. And not just whatever space he was planning from the blueprints he kept eyeing. Klaus had long since come to peace with the fact that his son would never be subtle. No, that was more about Gilgamesh carving out his own space. Klaus wasn’t going to intrude on that. It was healthy for Gil to have a few, innocent secrets. Just so long as Klaus knew about them.

It would be better to present the empty lab and then give Gilgamesh free access to anything he could need to equip it and make it his own.

Within reason. Any supplies he could need within reason. Obviously anything banned from this lab would decidedly be banned from Gilgamesh’s new lab as well.

Yes, it was most definitely time for Gilgamesh to have his own lab. Returning to his office, Klaus pulled out his copy of the airship's blueprints and started looking for a space that could be repurposed into Gilgamesh’s new lab.

* * *

Klaus spent several days pouring over the blueprints but no space in particular jumped out at him as the perfect future lab for his son. Eventually he gave up trying to find a magical space that called to him and approached the problem like he would any other logistical one. It left him feeling oddly hollow when he decided upon a lab. It was nothing like the bubbling joy from when he set up their shared lab.

Well, that didn’t necessarily mean anything. He’d been drawing on memories of his own father when he set up their lab. Long-gone simple, happy times that were usually tucked away in his chest not thought of often. He couldn’t even remember what his first private lab looked like; there were no memories to draw on here. That didn’t make this lab any less an important marker for Gilgamesh.

He’d feel better when he showed it to Gilgamesh. Gil’s joy would be contagious.

* * *

Once he decided on a lab, it took almost no time to get it emptied out and ready for Gilgamesh. Only a few days later he called Gilgamesh into his quarters so he could present him with his lab.

“Father?” Gilgamesh said, poking his head in. He really was much more comfortable in the family quarters than he used to be. “You said you had something you wanted to show me?”

Klaus stood up from his desk and walked over to Gilgamesh gesturing towards the door. “I did. Follow me. And pay attention. I expect you to be able to find your way back, as well as here again on your own.”

“Yes Father.”

“Good. Now come along.” He tried to force some excitement into his mindset. It didn’t quite work but Gil would end up providing enough excitement for both of them once they actually reached the lab.

They walked in silence through several hallways before Gilgamesh broke the quiet. “Where are we going?”

“I have a gift for you.”

Gil perked up, all the previous trepidation from his previous question gone. “Is it a new game? Chess is fun and all but it’s a little slow, although spending ti–”

“It’s not a board game.”

“Oh,” Gilgamesh said, looking strangely put out. “That’s okay. I know you’re busy.” Klaus blinked at the non sequitur before deciding to ignore it for the moment.

“I’m giving you your own lab.”

“I already have a lab.”

“You won’t have to share this lab. It will be entirely yours.” He looked down, expecting excitement to be shining in his son’s face. Instead for some reason Gilgamesh looked even more distressed than before.

“So this new lab is replacing ours?”

“No, our lab will still be there for any joint experiments we have. This one is to be your personal, private lab. The first of many, I’m sure.” There. There was the joy Klaus had hoped for.

“Can we go see it?”

Klaus smiled down at his son, matching the expression on Gil’s face. “We’re already here.” True enough they’d stopped walking several minutes ago. “Do you want to go in and see it?” he asked, gesturing toward the door behind him.

“Yes please.”

“Then go ahead Gil didn’t need any more prompting. He pushed open the door, darting into the room. Klaus followed behind at a much more sedate pace. Gil had stopped in the middle of the room, staring around at it.

“Well?” Klaus prompted when Gil didn’t say anything. “What do you think?”

“It’s very… empty.”

“I suppose you’ve never seen an unoccupied lab before, have you?”

“I didn’t know they even existed. So no one’s ever used this lab before? That doesn’t make any sense. You wouldn’t waste this much space holding an empty lab just for me. It had to have been something before now.”

“You’re right. It was in use before this. It was still a lab, chemical and biologic. It’s been emptied and gutted.”

“Why? If it was already a lab why gut it just to turn it into a lab?”

“I told you the lab was yours. That means in its entirety. It’s yours to arrange and do with as you want, any way you want. Any supplies or materials will be provided for you. Within reason.”

Gil spun around to face him. “What about sugar?” he asked, bouncing up on his toes. “Can we unban it from this lab?”

Klaus paused. “Was sugar really banned from their lab right now? Why the hell was sugar banned? He had to have had a reason for it at the time. “I’ll think about it.”

Gil beamed up at him.

“So otherwise, what do you think?”

Gil’s smile got even wider. “I love it. Thank you Father.”

“Why don’t you start planning out how you want to organize it?”

The joy that had been missing from the whole undertaking bubbled up in his chest as he watched his son scamper around the room. While Klaus had wanted to give Gil a chance to make his new lab as much _his_ as possible, he’d done his best to gently direct his son towards his best potential. The lab was gutted, yes but even the shape of a room could influence how it was used. For example, in this lab there was an alcove that would be perfect for a tea station without it getting in the way of the rest of the lab.

“This part’s perfect for Zoing,” he called, darting over to the opposite side of the lab from the alcove Klaus had pegged for it. At some point Klaus would stop being surprised when his son did the exact opposite of what he expected.

For right now though, he was content to watch Gil start mapping out his new lab and be surprised.

* * *

Gilgamesh spent all his free time in his new lab. It was to be expected. After all he did have to get everything set up. A lab took time to calibrate to a person’s preferences. And Gilgamesh had never set up a lab before. Of course it would take longer for him to do so.

Still.

It wasn’t just lab time Gilgamesh was missing. The backgammon set was starting to gather dust. The _backgammon set!_ Gil loved that game.

No. Take a deep breath. They’d settle back into their old routines as soon as Gilgamesh finished setting up his lab.

It would be fine.

Klaus could wait.

He could.

* * *

Klaus found himself wandering down to their lab.

It was quiet. Labs weren’t supposed to be quiet. They were supposed to be loud and chaotic and alive. Never quiet. It was unnerving. And lonely.

He knocked into one of the cabinets by accident. The hallow clang of the metal echoed throughout the empty room. Somehow the noise seemed to only reinforce the quietness of the lab. Which made less than no sense. Klaus almost wanted to hit the cabinet again just to prove the quiet wrong. He curled his hands into fists to resist the impulse.

This was ridiculous. He had several labs. He had several labs, many of which he’d only just been complaining about not setting foot inside of in weeks. Why didn’t he just go visit one of those? He sullenly poked at the nearest project – a gardening clank meant to be deployed in the wastelands – and stubbornly didn’t move.

He was being foolish. He didn’t have any projects ongoing in this lab. Any project he was involved on in here was part of a joint experiment with Gil. He poked at the clank again.

It took him almost half an hour before he was able to force himself from the lab.

The entire thing was a colossal waste of time from start to finish.

* * *

He lost more than an hour reorganizing beakers in their shared lab. They were already organized perfectly fine when he came in. Gilgamesh didn’t appear once. And why should he? He had his own lab now. He didn’t need this one.

* * *

If it weren’t for the fact that Gilgamesh’s personal projects kept disappearing from the lab, Klaus would think his son had abandoned it altogether.

* * *

Once he got all of his projects moved over he probably would.

* * *

It was ironic, in a way, how he used to struggle to scrape together even a few minutes in the lab with Gil. And now that his son had his own lab Klaus seemed to have nothing but free time. Gilgamesh was the one too busy now.

It was ironic, but mostly it was proof that the universe was a dark void of nothingness designed to torment Klaus.

* * *

It seemed that the problems of the empire were finally catching up from all his recent unlooked for, unwanted free time staring into the abyss. Klaus stormed down the hallway, paging through the rapidly multiplying reports that had appeared on his desk this morning. For once he welcomed the paperwork. He welcomed the idiocy and the insanity and the sheer mind-boggling incompetence that came with a bureaucracy the size of the empire. Anything to keep him from reorganizing the Bunsen burners by the exploding points of the burner tubes. Again.

But even the being grateful for the forced distraction didn’t take away the intrinsic terribleness of paperwork. Escaping to stretch his legs for five minutes was really the only way to keep himself from setting something on fire.

“Hello?”

Klaus turned, ready to rip the head off of whomever dared intrude on his one second of peace to try to hand him yet more problems. Except rather than a messenger it was his son. Gilgamesh took a hasty step back, eyes wide. Klaus immediately did his best to rein his glare in.

“Gilgamesh?” He glanced around, making sure he hadn’t accidently stalked Gilgamesh’s lab. He hadn’t; in fact they were… right next to their shared lab. God dammit. “What are you doing here?”

“I was looking for you.”

“You were?”

Gilgamesh nodded shyly.

“I thought you would be busy with your projects in your new lab.” Klaus managed not to wince externally at the tinge of bitterness in his voice. Please let Gilgamesh have not have heard it. With his luck he’d end up thinking Klaus was going to take the lab away and barricade himself in it.

Gilgamesh looked down at his feet.“Well," he said, twisting his fingers into the hem of his sleeve. "You said our lab would still be here for our projects together. And, I was wondering if… If you wanted to work on one of them?”

“Really.”

“Yeah. We were almost done with that wasteland seeder. And I missed working on experiments with you. Unless… Unless you’re too busy right now.”

Klaus thought about the mountain of crises piling up on his desk. Then he looked back down at his son. “Right now, I have nothing but free time.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Klaus is the absolute king of addressing a problem in a one-time basis and then not changing his patterns at all.


End file.
